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B-195921 1 (1981-07-31)

handle is hein.gao/gaobadjpg0001 and id is 1 raw text is: DECISI( FILE: B-l MATTER 0 DIGEST: THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE. UNITED STATES WASHINGTON, (. C. 20548 /6070 DATE: July 31, 1981 5921 F: Department of Agriculture Meat Inspectors - Fair Labor Standards Act 1. Office of Personnel Management is correct in holding that certain Department of Agriculture red meat inspectors who are required to wear protective clothing and equipment and to keep them clean, are involved in an integral and indispensable part of their principal activity under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201 et seq. (1976), when they are engaged in clothes-changing and clean- up activities at their worksites. GAO will not disturb OPM's factual findings unless clearly erroneous. Paul Spurr, B-199474, April 2, 1981, 60. Comp. Gen. _ . 2. Section 3(o) of the Fair Labor Stan- dards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 201 et seq. (1976), does not exclude red meat inspectors clothes-changing and cleanup activities from being compen- sable hours worked under FLSA. There was no custom or practice to exclude such activities from being compensable as meat inspectors union had always challenged Department of Agriculture's determination to exclude such activities from being compensable from the time FLSA was made applicable to Federal employees. Moreover, Agriculture had paid for a certain amount of clothes- changing and cleanup time in the past. The Honorable Bob Bergland, while he was Secretary of Agriculture, requested our decision as to whether time spent by food inspectors of the Department of Agriculture's /1144 'r~ '~ Y